Trend Micro Steals Hotmail Business from McAfee

Trend Micro, based in Japan with U.S. headquarters in Cupertino, California, said the Hotmail users will receive automatic Trend Micro scanning and detection of viruses and worms when sending and receiving their e-mail attachments.

The announcement signals the continuing consolidation of security and other software providers, who are looking to provide comprehensive defenses. It also marks the growing trend toward the addition of antivirus, antispam and other security technology as standard offerings with Internet services.

Warming to US Consumers

While Trend Micro is known in North America mostly for its enterprise presence -- IDC recently said the company was the top gateway server antivirus provider -- it is also trying to increase its consumer profile in the U.S., according to Punit Minocha, the company's senior director of business development.

Minocha told TechNewsWorld that while the company has had a commanding presence in the Japanese consumer market, it has not invested in selling to U.S. consumers.

"That's changed over the last few months," he said. "This announcement does allow us to do a number of things in the consumer market."

AV for Free

Minocha said Trend Micro sees its services becoming increasingly integrated with other security software, such as antispyware , as well as integrated with service offerings.

"The threats will change, but we do see a service element emerging," Minocha said.

Director of MSN Communication Services Phil Holden said the deal would better protect Hotmail users at no additional cost.

"We see this offering as important in helping protect our Hotmail customers while also guarding members of the overall Hotmail community and the friends and family they e-mail," Holden said in a statement.

Defending the Masses

Trend Micro, which competes mostly with AV providers McAfee and Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) , has won industry praise and market share with its "PC-cillin" security software and also offers its Housecall online antivirus scanning service.

Ken Dunham, iDefense director of malicious code intelligence, said the Hotmail deal was part of an ongoing trend whereby security components are coming together and providers are offering protection as a standard feature.

"What you're seeing now is a wide variety of ISPs and other companies with services are offering this stuff for free," Dunham said. "It's changing the security landscape as we know it."

Dunham said that despite the default defenses and add-on security features providers are giving to customers, enterprises in particular need to remain diligent about securing network and computer resources. Nevertheless, Dunham said the Trend Micro and similar consumer protection IT deals are alleviating the security strain on everyday users.

"We've needed AV for the masses for a long time," Dunham said.